Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 1-28-09

1. VA Agrees To Settle ID Theft Exposure Lawsuit.  
2. VA Offering PHR-Like Services.  
3. Blind Iraq Vet The Subject Of Documentary.  
4. Vocation Rehab Center Opens At Audie Murphy VA Hospital.  
5. DOD Opens Outreach Center For Psychological Health, TBI Matters.  
6. Columnist Recommends Book By World War II Vet.  
7. Rhode Island Lawmakers Investigate Veterans Home 
8. Zablocki VAMC To Host Veterans Career.  
9. Recession Tightens Job Market For New Nurses In Arizona.  
10. VBA Official Concerned About Yellow Ribbon Program.

     1.      VA Agrees To Settle ID Theft Exposure Lawsuit.   The New York Times /AP (1/28, A16) reports, "The Veterans Affairs Department agreed Tuesday to pay a total of $20 million to veterans for exposing them to possible identity theft in 2006 by losing their personal information." In court filings, lawyers from both sides "said they had reached an agreement to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by five veterans groups." The settlement money "will be used to pay veterans who can show that they suffered actual harm," such as "emotional distress or expenses incurred for credit monitoring." The AP notes the case began after a burglary at the home of a VA data analyst resulted in the loss of a laptop containing personal information, including Social Security numbers, on "up to 26.5 million veterans and active-duty service members."
      The CNN (1/27, Frieden) website reported, "The settlement ends nearly three years of litigation" on a lawsuit that initially sought "$1,000 in damages for every veteran whose information was compromised in the computer theft." On June 29, 2006, close to two months after the theft occurred, the FBI "announced the stolen laptop had been recovered and that it appeared no one had accessed the personal data." The VA stressed this outcome in statement it released following Tuesday’s settlement announcement, saying, "We want to assure veterans there is no evidence that the information involved in this incident was used to harm a single veteran." In a separate story on a "used MP3 player" with confidential US military files turning up at an Oklahoma thrift store, the CNN (1/27) website again noted that the VA lost the laptop in 2006. 

2.      VA Offering PHR-Like Services.   In a story noting that "experts say" Personal Health Record (PHR) "privacy and security must be nearly foolproof before the public will accept the new technology," Government Health IT (1/27, Moore) reported, "The Veterans Affairs Department offers PHR-like services through its My HealtheVet Web portal. The site offers health education and benefit information without registration," but an upgraded account, which requires in-person ID proofing, "lets veterans store elements of their health records in My HealtheVet’s eVAult feature. Thus far, the data available for eVAult is limited to a combination of self-entered medication data and data" from the VA’s "electronic health record system. More health information will be made available in an upcoming release of My HealtheVet, said Theresa Hancock, the program’s director."

3.      Blind Iraq Vet The Subject Of Documentary.   On its website, WMAQ-TV Chicago, IL (1/27, Norman) profiled 23-year-old Steven Baskis, "the subject of an upcoming documentary, ‘Going Blind,’ which is designed to increase public awareness about blindness." Baskis, who lost his eyesight while serving in Iraq, is "able to get around" thanks "to blind rehab training he’s received" at the Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital’s Blind Rehabilitation Center, where he teaches "a computer class…to the sightless."

   
4.      Awareness Of VA Benefits, Services Said To Be A Problem For Maryland Vets.   The Annapolis (MD) Capital (1/27, Kelly) reported, "Seventy percent" of Maryland’s "veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are not enrolled with the Veterans Administration and therefore don’t know what benefits and services are available to them, according to a state advisory board" that met earlier this month. Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, "chairman of the newly created" Veterans Behavioral Health Advisory Board, "used the occasion" of the meeting "to praise a memorandum of understanding reached in October between state and federal officials that allows veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq to receive mental health services faster." The Capital noted that the "board’s next meeting will be in Annapolis in March."

      San Antonio Center One Of Three Opened As Part Of VA Program.   The San Antonio (TX) Express-News (1/28, Huddleston) reports, "San Antonio has become the third" US city "to embrace an innovative career development program that helps severely disabled veterans find work in a tight job market. Through an alliance with private sponsors" and the PVA, the "initiative at Audie Murphy…gives veterans career support while they’re in recovery. Since it began in Richmond, Va., in July 2007," the VA program "has helped 260 veterans, including 23 injured in Iraq or Afghanistan, and has linked 39 with jobs." The program "was expanded last year to Minneapolis, Minn."

5.      DOD Opens Outreach Center For Psychological Health, TBI Matters.   In the lead story in his Providence (RI) Journal (1/27) "Veterans’ Journal" column, George W. Reilly noted the Department of Defense (DOD) "has opened a 24-hour outreach center to provide information and referrals to military service members, veterans, their families and others with questions about psychological health" and traumatic brain injury (TBI). The new facility, "which is operated by the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, can be contacted at any time by phone at (866) 966-1020, and by e-mail at [email protected]."

6.      Columnist Recommends Book By World War II Vet.   In his column in the Eugene (OR) Register-Guard (1/27), Bob Welch wrote, "I have a reading recommendation for the Pentagon folks who recently decided against awarding Purple Hearts to veterans and soldiers suffering from post-­traumatic stress disorder: Norman Bussel’s ‘My Private War’ (Pegasus Books, 2008)." Bussel, an 85-year-old World War II vet "who will sign and discuss the new release Wednesday at the University of Oregon, has written a rare book that gets beyond the battlefield and into the wounded hearts of soldiers – in this case, himself, after" he "spent a year as a prisoner of war."

7.      Rhode Island Lawmakers Investigate Veterans Home.   In continuing coverage, the AP (1/27) reported the Rhode Island General Assembly’s House Committee on Veterans Affairs "is investigating conditions at the Rhode Island Veterans Home in Bristol, which cares for about 230 patients, after a panel tasked by lawmakers found rancor between management and staff, poor communication with patients’ families and building problems that included a leaking roof." Rep. Kenneth Carter, the "Democratic committee chairman, said his committee intends to eventually issue recommendations for improving care at the nursing home." Carter also "said conditions at the nursing home have improved since retired Brig. Gen. Rick Baccus became facility administrator last year."

8.      Zablocki VAMC To Host Veterans Career.   The Bay View (WI) Compass (1/27) reported, "The Milwaukee County Veterans Service Office, in collaboration with Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Office of Veterans Services," the Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center, "and Manpower Inc, is presenting a Career Fair for veterans only, from 10am-3pm Thursday January 29, 2009." The event will take place in "Room 3435" of the VA hospital.

9.      Recession Tightens Job Market For New Nurses In Arizona.   The Arizona Republic (1/26, Alltucker) reported, "New graduates…are discovering that landing an entry-level nursing job has become more challenging" as Arizona hospitals "scale back hiring because of the recession." The Republic noted that Carl T. Hayden Veterans Affairs Medical Center, which hired "70 entry-level nurses…over the past year," is "no longer adding nurses, but the resumes and applications continue to pile up." Linda Weiler, the VA’s nurse recruiter in Phoenix, commented on the situation, saying, "We have been overwhelmed with applications" for Hayden nursing jobs "since the end of September."

10.    VBA Official Concerned About Yellow Ribbon Program.   In continuing coverage, UPI (1/28) reports, "Private colleges and universities, hit hard by the economic slump, are unlikely to provide help for veterans under the Yellow Ribbon program," according to Keith Wilson, "director of education services for the Veterans Benefits Administration." Under the program, "private institutions can waive up to half the tuition and fees not covered by current benefits," and the VA "will then match that assistance." But in a recent interview Tom Philpott, author of the syndicated "Military Update" column, Wilson "said few colleges and universities say they will adopt the program."